Exercise:

Steps to practice mindful concentration

1. Start with sitting or lying down comfortably
2. Close your eyes if you are comfortable doing so, or closing them slightly and focusing on a spot in front of you.
3. Focus on the breath and notice if any particular sounds, sensations, feelings or thoughts that come into the foreground of awareness.
4. Label them for what they are…. “ah, there’s a thought”, “a breeze on the arm…”, “there’s an emotion…”
5. Respond with equanimity. Not seeing the experiences as good or bad, to crave or feel aversion to them, but to acknolwedge them as they are… an impermenant, passing experience.
6. If you notice your body is feeling intolerably uncomfortable, adjust your position slowly and intentionally. To challenge this, remain in the same position to see if this passes.
7. When you catch yourself going off in thought, that’s ok. Simply bring your concentration back to the breath.

How long and how often?

• Mindful concentration becomes easier with time. To start, set a timer for 5-10 minutes to practice at the start or end of each day. 
• When the practice becomes more familiar, extend the timer by 5 minutes each week until it’s at 20-40 minutes a day.

Variations and troubleshooting

• Using an app, such as Insight Timer, provides useful tools such as the recurring bell sounds that act as a trigger to notice what’s happening then and there. This can be useful at the start of mindful concentration practice as this can be a useful check-in aid every 30 seconds or 2 minutes during the meditation.
• Some people find the sensation of sitting in a meditation to be uncomfortable or not possible in a busy day-to-day routine. An alternative option would be to check in with thoughts, feelings and sensation with a set alarm or reminder. These can be set on your phone, or work laptop calendar prompts.
  
• Physical mindful concentration activities such as drawing, taking a bath or shower to concentrate on sensations, feelings, emotions and thoughts are also great ways to practice.